A couple of seasons after Ferbert, the legendary Yost arrived on campus. While the Wolverines didn't lose a single game for any of his first four seasons, Michigan won 11 games in his third without allowing a single point.

Yes Please

"the Spirit of Michigan...is based on a deathless loyalty to Michigan and all her ways....and a conviction that nowhere is there a better university, in any way, than this Michigan of ours" - Fielding Yost

The season-long shutout was in 1901, Yost's first season. His third season included the infamous 6-6 tie against Minnesota that spawned the Little Brown Jug rivaly (and those 6 points were the only points Michigan allowed that season).

1905 takes the cake though. Michigan allowed 2 points in the entire season...those 2 points coming in a 2-0 loss in the season finale to Chicago with the conference championship on the line.

Every time I go over to 11W, I'm impressed with both the amount and quality of content they produce. As far as college sports blogs go, they run an extremely professional site with many thoughtful writers and generally intelligent posters. The contrast with some of the more regrettable aspects of this site - e.g. the endless circle-jerks over muppets, kate upton, and other exhausted memes - is striking.

I actually agree with you. Every time I visit 11W I come away with a new-found respect for their bloggers. And while I can't necessarily say the same thing for their forum slappies that act like typical ohio fans, I do appreciate the site's overrall feel, formatting, and well-researched postings on the main page. I think it's hard to maintain such quality without charging for the blog (a la this site or 11W), but I do think many of our diarists provide for the same type of reasearched-based topics that end up on 11W's main page. Now if only we could stop the recent overrunning of trolls on this site...

It's tough for MGoBlog to maintain it's high level of content because all of our best writers/insiders keep getting tapped up by recruiting services, but I agree our diarists and mods do a great job trying to fill the void.

I think that's fair, and certainly an aspect of the site that should make us all (but especially Brian, et al.) very proud. I guess my issue is more that MGo has become so insufferably inside-jokey as to be practically unreadable to anyone who doesn't spend every day perusing the boards and inculturating themselves to the Kate Upton gifs, muppets clips, memes that were popular in 2005, and "unverified voracity," an obscure joke from half a decade ago. And of course, if you are the kind of poster who comes on here every day, how can you not be irritated at this inane repetitiveness? For those of you complaining that Dave Brandon hasn't agreed to sit down for an interview with Brian, can you blame him for declining to lend institutional credibility to an online masturbatorium of tired and unfunny memes?

MGB is the best thing the Michigan fan community has, bar none, but emulating a few more qualities of 11W and a few less of Something Awful forums would increase both the credibility and readability of the site.

There is most definitely a very interesting dynamic about this site. There are definitely many people that frequent the site more often than just daily, but there are also many on the other spectrum that only visit after certain events or for specific information. I can understand how members that don't visit everyday could be annoyed by all the "inside" jokes and memes but I think that just comes with the territory. Its no different than going out with a bunch of guys that you don't see all that often and having to sit through inside jokes/stories in person. Several members have created MGoFriendships just by being regulars and I think they would say that the "extracurricular" aspects of the blog are its most endearing features. On the other hand, I presume that a many less-frequent visitors find the internal banter pretty entertaining. To each his/her own, right?

Moreover, who can blame Brian for having his own idiocyncracies and personality ooze through his writing? I mean, it IS his website and, if I may put my own words in his mouth, he's probably writing almost much for himself as everyone else. Maybe other blogs don't have as much personality seeped into the writing but I think most of us would prefer reading a more "personal" blog than a "professional"** blog by Rothstein or the like.

**I obviously do not mean to infer that this website is not professional.

and it's too bad, but in my view, it's mostly limited to the posters (Kate GIFs). As for your complaints of "unverified voracity" or the muppets...it's part of the blog and it's not that much to get caught up with.

As for credibility, I suppose Dave Brandon could deny an interview to the site by pointing at a bit of foolishness. That said, it wouldn't be honest on his part. Where else do you see genuine and lucid analysis given to league structure decisions or recruiting offer decisions or cable TV contract decisions? Freep? Det News? SI, Mgoblue? Rivals? Nowhere else. The site is the single best source of non-insider thought and information on M football and basketball.

If the site is overly clubby or falsely intellectual or just full of itself I'll still take it if only because it keeps itself in check by abusing its own idiots (using "O$U" etc). I'd go far as to say you are here because you find a little kinship. Let me help. I'd suggest using a circle jerk angle rather than the online masturatorium one you used.

Cheers.

I'm out of Bolivia. Sex trafficking, kidnapping, drug running, and not a decent beer to be had. Man that sucked.

I think the bloggers at 11W do an excellent job with the topics they cover and their posts offer great insight into the OSU side of the rivalry. Good content, informative posts, very respectful of the Rivalry, fair criticisms of both Michigan and OSU. They clearly think that Meyer walks on water, but in fairness, if Michigan had hired someone of Meyer or Harbaugh's profile and then went 12-0 in the first season with him as HC, we'd all be thinking the same thing.

The problem I have with 11W is the posters in the comment section. Good Lord those forums are filled with complete idiocy. I know that some of the comment sections on mgoblog are filled with elements of retardation, but by and large I find the comments in here to have a good mix of humor, insight and, most importantly, fair criticism of the home team. Are there obvious trolls or morons who think that "Buck the Fuckeyes" is a real clever way of making fun of OSU? Sure, but most of those guys get taken to task by the other posters and/or mods. At 11W, it's scUM this, scUM that. Most of the posters on that site go out of their way to sound like 20 year old blind fanboys with no concept of reality or respect for the opponent.

What chafes me the most is their perception of Meyer vs. Hoke. I will be the first to admit I'd rather have Meyer as my favorite team's HC over Hoke. I love Hoke, but Meyer is one of the top 2 or 3 coaches in the country, and if my goal is to have a team that can win the NC, I feel my chances would improve by employing Meyer over Hoke. That said, you'd have to be a fool as an OSU supporter to not at least begrudgingly acknowledge the tremendous job Hoke has done so far, given what the program was like when he came in here. The improvement of the defense, breaking the streak against OSU, the Top 10 recruiting classes, etc. Is the program where we all want it to be yet? No, but it's certainly trending in the right direction and it's very clear that Hoke and his staff have done a good job of coaching up the RichRod players while mixing in new talent that's a better long-term fit for their system.

Hoke goes from 7-6 to 11-2 in his first year, and the 11W posters give him no credit for this, pointing to a favorable schedule only and OSU having an awful team in 2011. Meyer goes from 6-7 to 12-0 in 2012 with an even easier schedule than what we had in 2011, and it's all because he's the best coach ever, OSU will never lose another game until 2019, etc. The reality is that both coaches executed similar turnarounds in their respective first seasons on the job, and Hoke's record in Year 2 was clearly impacted by an unusually tough schedule and D-Rob's injury. They've both done very good jobs so far, and each has more work to do. I think that the mgoblog posters do a better job of seeing and acknowledging this reality than the 11W posters do.

The mgoblog posters definitely whine about Meyer too much (implying he's a cheater, liar, etc) but you rarely see anyone accuse him of being a bad coach. Over on 11W? Most of those guys act like Hoke is big, fat idiot who has no idea what he's doing. I find this to be particularly self-loathing because that description could easily be applied to most of the residents of Ohio (I kid, I kid!).

Their recruiting take is comical. Dozens of posts indicating that the only reason an awesome recruit doesn't end up at OSU is because Meyer doesn't want him. Blatant disregard for the reality that there are several top programs who can recruit nearly as well or even better than Meyer. Why they can't just be happy with the fact that Meyer is a fantastic recruiter who will always bring in a strong pipeline of talent is beyond me. I think that while mgoblog posters obssess in a crazy way over recruiting as well, they're a bit more realistic regarding expectations for the home team (aside from the fact that we always assume if a top recruit turns down Michigan for the SEC, it's because he's on the payroll).

I think a lot of 11W's problems would be solved if they moved to the points system for commenters that exists on mgoblog. Compared to other sites with comment sections (not just sports, but news, technology, etc), mgoblog does a tremendous job of weeding out trolls and assholes. As a result, a lot of times the comments section can be just as good of a read (or at least as entertaining of a read) as the actual blog post.

11W definitely has the content and blog post part down in a good way - they just need to find a way to lessen the flamebait going on in their comments section. If they did that, I would probably hit their site just as often as I visit mgoblog.

As a frequenter of both sites I find things I like and don't like about each. It is true that you have to keep up around here with the inside jokes or you will be lost reading not just the comments but the front page posts. 11W does have a point system now, you have to be a registered member to see it and you have to have 100 pts to vote and up/down votes do effect your totals, unlike here where only mods can move your points up or down.

I think both sites have their good and bad commenters and I think it's way more easy to notice the worst of the worst, especially the less time you spend on the site.

As to Hoke vs. Meyer, I feel like it's in your group of friends who get married and the one guy has a super hot model type wife, and your other friend has a girl next door nice pretty wife. All the guys openly know and have to admit they're totally jealous and are attracted to the super hot wife, but the other guy is happy in his marriage and really everyone kind secretly finds her attractive too. If they both are happy and satisfied, great, everyone should be jealous of both of the guys.

“Any time you give a man something he doesn't earn, you cheapen him. Our kids earn what they get, and that includes respect.” - Woody

Thanks for the heads up about the points system - I didn't realize that had been implemented so my bad on that part of the observation. It's probably worth me signing up for a bit and seeing if I get as aggravated reading the comments once I'm a member. I visit the site about once/week now but maybe a little more frequency won't hurt.

You're definitely right about the wife comparison and I'll take it a step further. Some guys are a better fit with certain types of women. And I think OSU's current culture matches up better with the super-model type (Meyer) and the higher risk/higher reward environment that brings than Michigan's current culture does. Remember, we broke up with the girl next door after Carr retired and went after a hot trophy wife named RichRod. Unfortunately, we ended up with way too much drama and not enough sex so we had to go back to what works best for us.

I think there's more than one way to run a successful program, just like there's more than one way to build a Super Bowl champion or Stanley Cup winner. Clearly Meyer's method works but I think that Hoke's does as well. I think that year in, year out OSU will be more likely to win the NC than Michigan, but that Michigan will still get its fair share of wins (especially when the games are in Ann Arbor).

I see the Rivalry evolving into what LSU and Alabama have right now. They're usually the 2 best teams in the SEC, Alabama more often than not has the more successful season, but LSU is almost always Alabama's toughest opponent and biggest obstacle to a NC season.

They're a solid blog. I'm not even going to say "for Ohio fans" because it doesn't really matter. They give solid analysis, while maintaining the proper amount of respect to hatred ratio for their rivals.

Overall, I find myself pleasantly surprised/impressed the few times I do venture there.

That's the thing about OSU: it's the only big school in the state, so its fanbase is a huge cross-section of the state. (Also, until recently, there were no pro sports teams in Columbus, so everyone in that metro area follows college sports, whereas in Michigan you see a lot of people who only follow the pros.) There are lots of well-educated, knowledgeable OSU fans. And then at the other end there's the riff-raff that wants to fight anyone wearing Michigan colors. The latter group gives them a bad name, but there is a decent segment of fans within the larger pool. I've found that OSU fans outside the state of Ohio, away from the insanely anti-UM echo chamber, are generally pretty nice.

I have to draw the line at your protests around the Muppets. Everything in every aspect of life is better when the Muppets are involved. I reached this conclusion once and for all after I saw the You Tube clips of different Muppet characters watching the famous "2 Girls, 1 Cup" video a few years ago.

Yeah, I can't see why he would leave for the same position unless he LOVES oklahoma or something. I think it would be a slight blow to us if we lose him. He has been a good recruiter that has easily connected to the kids. I say give him a pay raise if oklahoma comes knockin at his door!

Urban's second year seems pretty relevent. The author is comparing third year Michigan coaches and finding some unwelcome trends from his perspective. I would expect an OSU site to include their defense against this trend with a similar trend that works in their favor.

I guess I should have specified a little more. I don't feel like they compared apples to apples. They sat down and compared Brady Hoke's upcoming year to all of U of M's coaches 3rd year. Then they go with "Urban's track record" of year 2 results, rather than comparing Urban's upcoming year to that of OSU's past coaches in year 2.

“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing” ― Bo Schembechler

If you wanted to post an intellectual rebuttal to how the article ended then don't say "Urban's second year crap." That tells me that you are upset that an Ohio blog is posting pro-Ohio material. You could have elaborated what you would have preferred the author to say rather than saying crap. Don't be surprised if people misinterpret what you said.

Comment on 11W board: "Gardner might be more suited to what Hoke wants his team to do, but he isn't nearly as explosive a player as DRob was. So, although the personnel might fit the offense better, the offense will be easier to defend."

Well Shoelace did gash them for 120 yards in the first half of this years iteration of the game. So I can see why they may have that opinion, howeva I would argue (and probably most Michigan fans will agree) that the offense was much more predictable with Shoelace at the helm. It's hard to see the team regressing too much on that side of the ball once the young OL get's some experience early on in the season. Only 283 days until we find out for sure.

“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing” ― Bo Schembechler

Keep in mind that over half of those yards were on a play where he got lit up by 2 guys 8 yards downfield and the equalization of their force enabled him to stay up. While it otherwise was a nice half, we werent exactly steamrolling them on a consistent basis.

Moreover, let's not hide the fact that Denard never shredded a good, athletic defense. He was exactly what we needed to prevent from losing 8 games per year, but the predictability of defending against a QB that couldnt throw 15 yards downfield is what made us unable to take that next step on offense....even when RR was still here.

So you discount the long carry he had because "over half of those yards were on a play where he got lit up by 2 guys 8 yards downfield and the equalization of their force enabled him to stay up." I think if you look at any explosive runner they have those games where they may not be churning away 100 yards on the ground, but they nevertheless end up with 100 yards. It would be like taking away Barry Sanders runs because when he wasn't going for 80 yards to the house he was getting 1, -1, 3 and 5 yards on the previous 4 carries. I don't understand the logic there. I wouldn't say we were steamrolling them, but to discount that run doesn't make sense.

I am also not sure how Denard was the reason we avoided 8 loss seasons every year. That makes it seem like the rest of Michigan's team the last two seasons was a pile of talentless crap. I don't think that's fair. If you were going to argue that something helped UM avoid 8 loss seasons, I would say that's the defensive turn around.

“When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing” ― Bo Schembechler